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1 John 3:11-15

06 Apr

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

1 John 3:11-15

Dear God, John really got Jesus’s teaching all those years before. A week or two before the crucifixion, John is wanting to call down fire on the Samaritans for not allowing them to pass through on their way to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-55). And this was after he had seen the Transfiguration! But he was still locked into worldly paradigms. Revenge. Anger. Indignation. Selfishness.

But that’s not what John is preaching here. No, he’s presenting both love and submission to hatred by others. That was the Jesus way.

I heard recently about a friend whose granddaughter is both going through a divorce and struggling with her faith. This is a friend who really loves you with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength so both things are hard on him. And he loves his granddaughter very much. How should he respond? I told him about how another friend was getting divorced and her parents judged her and blamed her while one of her brothers just told her, “Do whatever makes you happy. Life’s too short.” But then another brother both loved and supported her while simultaneously encouraging her to work on herself and make sure she was the best she could be spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. The whole situation left her not trusting her family except for the second brother. And thankfully you reunited her with her husband.

Father, I want to close this time praying for this young woman I don’t even know, as well as her husband. I pray for their faith as individuals. I pray that you will guide them directly into your true heart. I pray that you will raise up voices in their lives who will be from you. I pray that they will feel loved and accepted. Help their friends and family know how to respond to them. I pray that they will find comfort in the Holy Spirit. Please help them to see through the “fog of war” and simply love you will everything they have and love their neighbors as themselves. Heal their marriage. Bring them into oneness. Give them one heart, soul, mind, and body. Give them joy. And use this pain to refine something beautiful in them. Do not let it be wasted. The pain is too great for it to be wasted. Use it to refine them and all of the lives of family and friends who touch them. And of course, do all of this for your glory.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 6, 2024 in 1 John

 

“How Noah Started Drinking” by Sally Fisher

05 Apr 
"How Noah Started Drinking" by Sally Fisher

Throughout the building, the plan seemed perfect:
save the little family; save the helpless beasts.
Noah thought of everything: coils of rope, wine jars,
tubs of extra pitch. Work stayed right on schedule. 
Driving home the last roofing nails
he saw the first big drops slap the shingles.

A small fire inside, the smell of wet hides,
soon the deck tilted, soon the ark lifted
from the backyard dry dock. 
Then he heard the cries.

Drinking at the bow, Noah tried not to think of them.
At last he shouted up through the ***** downpour,
If this is the solution, this is what was wrong!
No answer.
Steady rain.

Noah's little son sat on the deck with the shivers,
refusing to look at his father, or the waters.
Plans cannot always be held to.
Noah started pulling in the swimmers.

Dear God, let me start by saying that I don’t embrace everything in this poem by Sally Fisher as truth, but I think the sentiment and the frustration Noah must have felt with your plan probably isn’t far off. You asked a lot of him and his family. I’ve often wondered if I had been there whether I wouldn’t just as soon have died in the flood as opposed to being one of the survivors.

I’m curious about her line, “If this is the solution, this is what was wrong!” I’ll confess I’ve felt that way before as I’ve worked my way through life and tried to wait on your timing or submit to your plan for me or the ones I love. I can think it when I think of war zones like Ukraine and Israel/Gaza. I can think it when I hear stories about the prevalence of human sex trafficking or trafficking of any kind. Of child abuse or sexual abuse. Domestic violence and emotional abuse. “If this is the solution, this is what was wrong!”

And then I think of you and how sad all of this must make you. How sad you must be to see your creation doing such heinous things to each other. And, yes, it could be said of the story of Noah that it is you doing the heinous thing, but were you or were you just trying to make the heinous things we do stop? And whether anyone reading this believes in the literal story of Noah or not, the principle is the same. We can just be awful to each other.

So your ultimate decision was to not destroy the earth again through flood, but to send a piece of you to us to teach us, empathize with our struggles, sacrifice for us, and then reveal your power. You taught to to pray, serve, persuade, and suffer through your own example.

Father, I can appreciate the trauma Noah and his family went through. It must have been very, very hard. It must have left a lasting impact on all of them. And there are things that have happened to me in this life that have left a lasting impact. Everyone I know has had those things. And this morning, I woke up thinking of one heartache in particular that I have that I would love to see you help resolve. So I ask your mercy. I ask your forgiveness for when I break your heart. I ask for your comfort and your strength. I ask that you teach me and love through me. Holy Spirit, move in me.

I gratefully offer all of this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 5, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Matthew 5:33-37

04 Apr

33 “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ 34 But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. 35 And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Matthew 5:33-37

Dear God, I was listening to a podcast from The Bible Project yesterday on this passage. It was very good. Frankly, all of their podcasts I’ve heard are very good. They did a deep dive on Jewish culture at the time and the cultural context within which Jesus was giving these instructions.

At the end of the day, this is about my personal integrity. Do I need to manipulate someone into believing me in a certain situation by using special words, or do I have a reputation that lets people know they can trust me no matter what? If I tell my wife I am running an errand and will be back in two hours, do I have to swear to her that I am doing something innocent or can she just assume it because she has 35 years of history of me being trustworthy? Conversely, when she gets a text from another man about something, I don’t have to read it or go through her texts because she has proven to be completely trustworthy was well. There is a lot of peace in being able to trust someone.

I have to say, the person who has lied to me the most over the course of my life–well, they are in the top two anyway–will “swear” by something (especially one of their parent’s grave) a lot when they want to convince me to believe them. It actually is a pretty good tell that you are dealing with a person who does not mind playing with dishonesty and using it as it benefits them.

Father, as for me, help me to just sink into honesty and trustworthiness today, regardless of what it costs me. Help me to be shrewd when working with others and determining their trustworthiness. What I really want is to simply represent you well. Be glorified in me. Draw others to yourself through me. I pray that you will find joy in the life I live as I do my best to submit to you. And thank you for forgiving my sin. When I lie to myself and to you. When I am selfish and even when I am deceptive, which I can be. Thank you for the ability to be here this morning.

I offer all of me to you through Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 4, 2024 in Matthew

 

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Hebrews 12:1-2

03 Apr

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Dear God, how do I strip off every weight that slows me down, especially the sin that so easily trips me up? How do I run with endurance the race you have set before me? I do it by keeping my eyes on Jesus. He initiates my faith. He perfects my faith. His life teaches me. And sometimes I am actually able to do this, and when I do it is amazing.

I went to a beautiful funeral yesterday. Such a good man. But someone told a story about this Godly man when he was a young husband and father. He and his wife got in an argument right before he was to fly to New York on business. He was still angry when he landed in New York and got in a taxi. The driver noticed he was upset (I would imagine this driver had seen a lot of upset people in his cab over the years) and mentioned it to him. He told the young husband/father that he looked upset and he had the answer for it. “Just say three times, ‘Jesus, come into my heart!'” After some cajoling, the husband/father said quietly, “Jesus, come into my heart.”

“Good! Say it again, but louder,” the driver instructed.

“Jesus, come into my heart,” the man said with more confidence and a little stronger.

“Okay, one more time, but this time like you really mean it.”

“Jesus, come into my heart!” the husband/father said and started laughing. Jesus was filling his heart in that moment.

I don’t know this man’s evolution as a discipling Christian. I don’t know where this story fits into his narrative, but it is an example of what the author of Hebrews is saying here: keeping your eyes on Jesus, the initiator and perfector of our faith.

Before I go, let me say one thing. This taxi driver. What a legacy he left just by this one simple act of faith. Like the widow Jesus pointed out who “gave more than all these” by putting in her two little coins because she did it out of faith. She never knew the impact she would have through her act of faithfulness that day. She never knew I would be using her as an illustration 2,000 years later. And this taxi driver has no idea what kind of dominoes he knocked over by his witness that day.

Jesus, come into my heart today!

Jesus, come into my heart today!

Jesus, come into my heart today!

I pray this through Jesus, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 3, 2024 in Hebrews

 

Matthew 20:17-19

02 Apr

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. 18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. 19 Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Matthew 20:17-19

Dear God, I wish I could, just for a moment, understand how the disciples heard these words in real time. Not knowing then what I know now, what did he think Jesus meant? How was this not plain to them? Was it just too horrific to allow themselves to consider? Had he confused them so much in the past that they assumed this was some vague misdirection that didn’t really mean the literal version of what he said it meant?

But here’s the other part of this story. Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. In fact, he encouraged it through some of his confrontations, and yet he still went to Jerusalem. Why? Because he knew it’s what humanity needed from him. One thing I thought about during this Lenten season was the idea that you, Triune God, sacrificed part of yourself for us. You still carry those scars. You made a piece yourself vulnerable to death. It’s incredible to really consider.

I still think back on the illustration I heard back in December on the incarnation. The pastor at the local First Baptist Church talked about a man that God took to observe a planet where the highest life form was dogs, but on the planet the dogs were just vicious and mean to each other. Hurting each other. Killing each other. They needed to be taught. And they needed redemption. The only way to teach them was to become a dog, show them the way of God, and then submit to their sin for their redemption.

Father, compared with you, I am no smarter than a dog. Probably less so. Help me to learn from Jesus’s life here on earth. Help me to hear your Holy Spirit speak to me today. Help me to be an embodiment of your kingdom coming and your will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Oh, Father, help me.

I pray all of this through Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 2, 2024 in Matthew

 

Psalm 14

01 Apr

Psalm 14

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 Only fools say in their hearts,
    “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
    not one of them does good!

2 The Lord looks down from heaven
    on the entire human race;
he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,
    if anyone seeks God.
3 But no, all have turned away;
    all have become corrupt.
No one does good,
    not a single one!

4 Will those who do evil never learn?
    They eat up my people like bread
    and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord.
5 Terror will grip them,
    for God is with those who obey him.
6 The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed,
    but the Lord will protect his people.

7 Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel?
    When the Lord restores his people,
    Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.

Dear God, I wonder how much Jesus changed this psalm. David had a definite paradigm about your justice and how you interact with us. And I don’t think that’s necessarily changed except that now we have this amazing gift of Jesus that takes away our sin in ways David couldn’t imagine.

Here’s one that I’ve always wondered about. Let’s say a child is abused by someone in the church and grows up to never trust the church or you again. While that person might fit David’s description in the first part of verse one, they do not necessarily fit the description in the second part.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking this. My job for that person is just to love them as much as I can and represent the real you to them so that they can heal from their pain and see you for who you really are. Your Holy Spirit and you, the Father, and you, Jesus, take care of the rest. My job is to be faithful in their lives.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, first let me thank you for the amazing Lenten experience I had over the last 47 days. It truly moved me in the Easter season in a way I’ve not been moved before. I worship you as my Lord and my God. I submit to you as my savior, Jesus. I lean into you, Holy Spirit. Guide each step of my day. Let your kingdom come into this world and your will be done in my life so that all of you might come into this world through me and the rest of your Church. Give me what you need me to have today to build the man you need me to be. Forgive me for my failures–my sin. Help me to find the unforgiveness in my heart and give it. Help me to avoid temptation and to stand against it when I come across it. Deliver me and my family from Satan’s plans to divide us. All that I have is yours, Lord.

I pray all of this in Jesus my savior and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 1, 2024 in Psalms

 

Happy Easter!

31 Mar
  • AM Psalms: 148, 149, 150
  • PM Psalms: 113, 114
  • Exodus 12:1-14
  • Isaiah 51:9-11
  • John 1:1-18, 20:19-23

Dear God, I didn’t look ahead, so I wondered before I opened Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer might only have a passage about Jesus resurrection from the Gospels. Or maybe multiple tellings from multiple Gospels. Instead, they don’t have any of those passages. The only post-resurrection passage we get is Jesus appearing to his disciples that evening after Mary Magdalene had already seen him. So let’s get into these passages and see how they might add to the Easter story.

Psalms 148, 149, 150 – So these last three psalms are wonderful because they just worship you. Straight out worship. No calls for killing my enemies or anything like that. Just, “You are great!!” I love it. Yes, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit–my Triune God–you are great!! Oh, thank you. Thank you for your victory. Thank you that you relieved me of the pressure of “winning.” You’ve already won. All I have to do is faithfully follow you as best as possible. It reminds me of that last part of the poem I read inspired by Psalm 23: …I’m trying hard to sit at a table because it’s expected, required really, and my enemies–it turns out I have enemies–are watching me eat and spill my drink but I don’t worry because all my enemies do is watch and I know I’m safe if I will just do my best as I sit on this chair that wobbles a bit in the grass on the side of a hill. (“Here in the Psalm” by Sally Fisher)

Psalms 113, 114 – Psalm 114 might be one of the most poetic psalms I’ve read over the last 47 days: “The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs…turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.” What fun ways to remember all the great things you have done. I should probably sit down more often and recount the great things you have done.

Exodus 12:1-14 – This story is so powerful and yet so horrific. It made me think of President Truman’s ultimate decision to drop the first atomic bomb. A lot of innocent people died in both stories. I’m not comparing the moral equivalency of the stories; just the idea that there was a mass group of people who died and another mass group of people who were protected from it. This world is so complex. How time plays out is so complex. That everything in history lined up even so that I could be here today is amazing. That everyone who is currently on earth because history has been laid out in this exact way. Oh, help us to live up to this blessing.

Isaiah 51:9-11 – My wife and I were talking yesterday about time continuing on after Easter. For her, she’s worked very hard this week in the church at different services. There has been a big build up to Easter. For me, this is the most intense Lenten season I’ve probably ever done leading up to Easter. It almost feels like the end of something, but it’s really only the beginning. It’s only the beginning. So it’s time to get up today and every day to live in this victory provided by this amazing gift of God the Father, Jesus his Son, and His Holy Spirit.

John 1:1-18, 20:19-23 – John 1:5: The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. Oh, how I want to really understand who you are, Jesus. I want to, but I still don’t. I’ve been a discipling Christian for 37 years. I’ve been doing these prayer journals for 24 years. Yet I understand so little still. Thank you for your patience with me and teaching me. And that leads me to you walking into the room with your disciples after your resurrection. This whole thing about forgiving sins is powerful. You forgive me. You give me grace. The long list you could keep for me of the things I do wrong is invisible to you because of Jesus’s blood. I don’t know that I have any authority like the disciples did to administer your forgiveness to others, but if I do I want that net of forgiveness to be cast very wide.

Now, I am going to get dressed and go to a sunrise service at a local Lutheran church. I love you, Father. I love you, Jesus. I love you, Holy Spirit. Thank you for accepting my love. Thank you for accepting my life. And thank you for the bridge you provided for me.

I offer this entire Lenten season to you in the precious, powerful, humble, and sacrificial name of Jesus, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 31, 2024 in Exodus, Isaiah, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

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Lent Day 46

30 Mar

Dear God, before I get into today’s passages from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, I want to look at something the priest read yesterday when I attended a “Stations of the Cross” service at our local Catholic church. This is an excerpt from the 12th Station: 

My people, what have I done to you? 
Or in what have I offended you? 
Answer me. 
What more should I have done and did not do? 
I led you out of the land of Egypt, and you prepared a cross for me.
I opened the Red Sea before you, and you opened my side with a lance.
I gave you a royal scepter, and you give given me a crown of thorns.
With great power I lifted you up, and you have hung me upon a cross.
My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? 
Answer me.
(from the Reproaches of Good Friday)

There are shades of your speech to Job in this, but it’s very convicting for me because I know that if your time on earth had come now and not 2,000 years ago, I would be as guilty as any. I wouldn’t have gone to see you, so my attitude would have been more apathy that hatred, but I certainly would not have worshipped you or even defended you.

But there is a question that is asked here that people today could stand to answer: “What more should I have done and did not do? There are some example of human suffering I hate such as sex trafficking and war, but even those are manmade. What do I expect you to do to stop them? How do I expect you to intervene in our lives to smite the bad people and build up the good? Who is to say which side of the cutline from good and bad I would be on? You, of course. But my point is whenever I have stopped to think about how things should be different–how the Bible could be better or more clear and concise, how you should approach evil in the world, etc.–I have no idea. We are who we are as humans. Maybe I could take issue with how you created us in the first place, free will and all, but I cannot take issue with who you are and how you love us. What more should you do that you have not done?

Here are today’s passages. It’s interesting that there is no Gospel reading. Jesus is apart from us for the time being. Part of our God has died, sacrificed for me. Amazing

  • AM Psalms: 88, 95
  • PM Psalm: 27
  • Job 19:21-27a
  • Romans 8:1-11
  • Hebrews 4:1-16

Psalms 88, 95 – Once again, they are pairing the worship of Psalm 95 with a lament psalm. In this case, it is Psalm 88. My wife mentioned yesterday a sermon she heard saying that Jesus might have had Psalm 88 in mind as he walked his path yesterday. I would love to be able to see into Jesus’s mind that morning as he walked a brutal and terrible road.

Psalm 27 – “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” That’s what we are doing now as we wait for Jesus’s resurrection. It’s also kind of the word I was getting from you way back at the beginning of Lent: Patience. Wait. I will wait patiently, Father. I will not force my own timing or agenda. I will wait.

Job 19:21-27a – I almost wish they had left our verses 21-24 because those are words of Job I think you would take issue with. But the faith beyond his ignorance in verses 25-27 is beautiful: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Yes! Yes!

Romans 8:1-11 – “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Sprit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Oh, Father, bring my spirit your life through your Spirit. Live in me! Forgive me of my sin. Forgive the mess of my bodily temple. Thank you, Jesus, for making it possible for me to have the Holy Spirit in me.

Hebrews 4:1-16 – Lord, teach me what I am supposed to carry with me past this Lenten season. What should my time in scripture look like? Prayer? Service? Loving my family? Impact on my sphere of influence? In the case of this passage, Sabbath? Show me what to do. Reveal your truth to me.

Oh, Father, I offer this prayer to you in the name of Jesus, your son, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 30, 2024 in Hebrews, Job, Lent 2024, Psalms, Romans

 

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Lent Day 45

29 Mar

Dear God, I want to say thank you for my wife. She’s amazing. She left just a little bit of you everywhere she went yesterday. A local business lost the husband of the couple that owns it (I mentioned this yesterday), and she was able to send their manager whom she knows well a column she wrote about that man almost nine years ago. He told her how much it blessed him and everyone he shared it with at the business. She mentored a fifth-grader grader at the local elementary school. She lead singing at our church last night for the Last Supper service (some call it Maundy Thursday, but Catholics don’t for some reason). She went to the funeral of a friend’s mother and got to love on that friend. She even went out of her way to give me a lovely compliment. Thank you for her and for living so beautifully through her.

Here are the verses Good Friday from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

  • AM Psalms: 22, 95
  • PM Psalms: 40, 54
  • Genesis 22:1-14
  • John 13:36-38, 19:38-42
  • 1 Peter 1:10-20

Psalms 22, 95 – The tone of these two psalms is so different. It’s interesting that they are paired together this morning. Psalm 22 expresses so much pain while Psalm 95 calls us to worship. It made me wonder about what was going through Jesus this morning nearly 2,000 years ago. If he had written a psalm that morning (it’s not like he could have, but if he had), what would he have said. What words would have described what was in his heart? Maybe this same type of mixture–anguish and worship.

Psalms 40, 54 – Thinking of Jesus’s betrayal from Judas, but also the men who purported to be your representatives through the temple, Psalm 54 is set up with, ” A maskil of David. When the Ziphites had gone to Saul and said, “Is not David hiding among us?” Then David says in the psalm, “Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life–men without regard for God.” Oh, how sad this betrayal must have been for him. Abandoned. Alone–even from you. Alone maybe for the first time in his existence–on earth or before earth. Oh, my Jesus. Thank you.

Genesis 22:1-14 – I’ve never liked this story as a comparison with what you did with Jesus, giving us your only son, because I don’t think your instructions to Abraham about Isaac have anything to do with what you did with Jesus, EXCEPT, this morning I noticed that maybe the ram with his horns stuck in the thicket is the Jesus figure here. Maybe Isaac is my sin, and I am sentenced. In verse 22:8, Abraham says, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then in verse 14, Abraham calls that place, “The LORD Will Provide.” Yes, you did provide, Father.

John 13:36-38, 19:38-42 – You are in a place where I cannot yet go, but you have left your Holy Spirit here with me to walk with me, comfort me, teach me, guide me. Thank you. As for Nicodemus helping Joseph care for Jesus’s body, I still think it is one of the most beautiful acts of love and self-sacrifice I’ve ever seen.

1 Peter 1:10-20 – I’ll confess I’m not really feeling this passage this morning. It doesn’t seem to fit as much with where my head is right now. I’ll just say that I love that Peter was who he was, experience what he experienced, made the mistakes me made, learned the lessons he learned, repented of his mistakes and sins, and lived an amazing bold life for you. What a great example!

Father, I offer this day to you. Thank you for the Friday that was so good for me and so tragic for you. I am yours.

I pray all of this in the name of Jesus, my Lord, and with your Holy Spirit who resides in me,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 29, 2024 in 1 Peter, Galatians, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

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Lent Day 44

28 Mar

Dear God, Maundy Thursday. The Last Supper. The bread/body, wine/blood. The washing of the feet. The betrayal. The blood from sweat. The prayer to take the cup. The anguish. The healing. The prayer for our unity. So much happens. Thank you.

Here are today’s verses from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer. Ironically, I have not hardly read the commentary from the book. Maybe 10% of it. I’ve almost exclusively just used the passages each day. Maybe I’ll go back and read it when I’m done.

  • AM Psalm: 102
  • PM Psalms: 142, 143
  • Jeremiah 20:7-11
  • John 17
  • 1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:27-32

Psalm 102 – When I started reading this psalm, which contains the introduction, “A prayer of an afflicted man. When he is faint and pours out his lament before the LORD,” I thought of Jesus praying this psalm. The pain and the anguish. May I never forget the fully human nature of Jesus as he faced this. He didn’t get a divine intervention from this pain. He was fully you, but he was also fully Mary. Oh, Jesus, thank you.

Psalms 142 and 143 – Again, I imagine these words layered over Jesus’s experience nearly 2,000 years ago. The lament. The dread. The fear. The love. The submission. The devotion. The determination. The strength. The self control. The kindness. The goodness. The faithfulness. The patience. The gentleness. All of the fruits of the Spirit on full display that night. Amazing.

Jeremiah 20:7-11 – Jeremiah had moments of feel very rejected. Each day I fill out a 6-question survey on how I’m doing emotionally and physically and share it with a friend. It’s on a scale of 1-5, and the idea is to be able to see how your friend is doing at any given time. It has proved to really bond this friend and me together over the last 18 months. I have a tendency to use “4” as a baseline, bump it to 5 if things are fully engaged at that level in that particularly category, and let it drop to 3 or even 2 if it was a bad day. Most days are 4s and 5s, but sometimes I give a 3, and a few times I’ve given a 2 on some of the questions. I can imagine that Jeremiah had a lot of days that were filled with 2s. The path you had for him was certainly contentious and full of rejection by man. His pain was real. But your presence and comfort to him were real as well. Just as it was to Jesus as we began his final journey to crucifixion.

John 17 – Ah, the prayer at the Last Supper. I knew this chapter even before I opened it. Jesus prays for himself, Jesus prays for the disciples, and then he prays for all of us, including me. He will do more praying later in the garden–anguished prayer–but for now he is covering us in prayer. Father, answer those prayers, even today. Use things in our world that are happening in your Church that concern me, and redeem them for your ultimate glory. Bring us all to repentance for our idols. Help us to look only to you for our path forward.

1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:27-32 – I need to be sure to find some time tonight to take your bread and drink your wine. I need to remember the body and the blood you gave for me. And the idols Paul mentions in 10:14. There is all kinds of idolatry. Anything that we look to for our fruits of the Spirit–especially peace (in my opinion)–instead of you. Our government? Our economy? Our spouse/significant other? Our children? Our job? Our reputation? I’ve been guilty of all of these and more. Please help me to be free from idols, look only to you for my peace, and help my friends and your Church to have our eyes opened to its idols, repent, and return to you.

Finally, I want to pray for a couple of friends experiencing the deaths of their mothers and one who lost their spouse, all this week. For the woman who tragically lost her spouse two days ago from an accident, please strongly support her in every way. Support her through this terrible time. Provide every need so that, ultimately, she might find rest in you. And for her children as well. For the two friends who lost their mothers this week, please comfort them. There is no one like Mom. Please help them and comfort them as, even at their older ages, they are motherless for the first time. Help them to find their rest and peace in you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and everything that the next 72 hours represents, and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 28, 2024 in 1 Corinthians, Jeremiah, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

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